The Witch, the Warrior, and the Initiative
by GarrettCRW
Summary: Sequel to "The Witch and the Warrior", set from the start of "Hush". Buffy and Tara are together, happy, and conspiring to set up Willow and Xander in time for Christmas. But, in addition to the usual Sunnydale nastiness, there are still the "Army guys" to deal with. Who are they? What are they up to?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Buffy and all characters are owned by Fox, I don't, etc., etc.

It was late afternoon, and Buffy and Willow were once again immersed in Professor Walsh's Psych class. They were, as usual, seated near the front, and Riley was off to the side, sneaking wistful glances at the Slayer as she listened intently to the lecture.

"So this is what it is. Talking about communication, talking about language. Not the same thing. It's about the way a child can recognize and produce phonemes that don't occur in its native language. It's about inspiration, not the idea but the moment before the idea when it's total, when it blossoms in your mind and connects to everything, before the coherent thought that gives it shape, that locks it in and cuts it off from the universal. When you can articulate it, it becomes smaller. It's about thoughts and experiences that we don't have a word for. A demonstration. Buffy Summers."

Buffy was legitimately surprised, and mouthed, "Me?"

"Thank you for volunteering," replied the professor with a snakelike warmth. "Come down to the front here." Buffy complied hesitantly, standing next to her instructor in front of the entire class as Professor Walsh continued speaking. "Typical college girl, one assumes. Lie down on my desk."

"What?"

"Go ahead," replied the professor with the same poorly comforting tone of voice. "You're perfectly safe." Again, Buffy consented, drawing a few scattered snickers from the class as she lied on her back before propping herself up on her elbows. "Ms. Maclay," announced Professor Walsh, "If you could oblige?"

Buffy looked across the room and noticed Tara, who was off to the opposite side of the room as Riley, who was visibly upset at being passed over for the demonstration. She was obviously very nervous, having reverted to her previous form of slouching, looking at the floor, and fidgeting with her shirt and dress (which Buffy noted were of the bland and more ill-fitting type she had worn before becoming comfortable with herself and her new friends). "Y-y-you w-w me t-to d-demonstrate?"

"Yes," confirmed the professor. "If you can't, I'm sure that Riley will be happy to help."

Tara glanced nervously at Riley, who looked eager to please. "N-no. I-I-I'll h-help." She scurried over to the back of the desk, unable to even look Buffy in the eye. The Slayer reached out and held her girlfriend's hand supportively, which earned her a blush and a faint hint of a smile from the witch.

Turning her attention back to the class, Professor Walsh said, "A kiss is just a kiss, I believe the line goes. The rest comes from you."

Quietly, Buffy said, "I guess this is what I get for not wanting to keep things a secret."

Tara smiled and said, "I-it's OK. I-if we kiss, it'll make the sun go down." Tara leaned in and kissed Buffy, taking the Slayer in her arms as things grew more passionate. True to Tara's word, the sun went down as their kiss deepened, and when the two pulled apart, it was night. "See?"

Buffy grinned widely. "I love you."

"I know."

The comment confused Buffy, knowing that Tara's date with _Star Wars_ wasn't until tomorrow. But it had to wait, as Buffy went into Slayer-mode, standing up and looking around cautiously. "Did you hear that?" It sounded like….a girl humming?

Tara didn't answer, but Buffy noticed suddenly that she was wearing her scabbard and sword before leaving the empty classroom. Now alone, Tara smiled and whispered, "Along came a spider…."

Walking down the hall, Buffy followed the humming sound, which turned into something like a nursery rhyme: "Can't even shout. Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors….They need to take seven and they might take yours…."

Turning a corner in the hall, Buffy saw a little girl standing at the other end, holding a small, wooden box. She said, "Can't call to mom. Can't say a word. You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard."

Tara turned the corner that Buffy just had, and reached out to her girlfriend wordlessly. However, instead of Tara, Buffy turned to see a horrific, grinning white face!

* * *

With a start, Buffy woke up to find herself still in class.

"So, I'll see you all Monday for a final review session."

With everyone else gathering their things, Buffy tried to get a sense of what was going on. Besides class being over, it wasn't night, or even dusk, and Tara, the girl, and that….. **thing** were nowhere to be seen.

"Boy, that was an exciting class, huh?" asked Willow with a subtle playfulness in her voice.

"Oh yeah," lied Buffy. "Wow."

"And that last twenty minutes," continued Willow, now openly having fun at her friend's expense, "it was a revelation. Just laid out everything we needed to know for the final. I'd hate to have missed that."

With her lie exposed, Buffy replied somewhat shamefully, "Just tell me I didn't snore."

With a reassuring smile, Willow said, "You were very discreet. Minimal drool."

"Oh, yay."

After they both left the empty classroom, Willow asked, "So, were you dreaming?"

"Yeah," admitted Buffy, "it was kind of intense…." Her train of thought was completely derailed as Tara approached. The witch stifled her laughter at seeing the Slayer swoon. "Look, Will, it's my girlfriend!" When she realized what she had just announced for everyone to hear, Buffy only got giddier. "Oh my God, I have a girlfriend!"

"Hi, Sweetie," said Tara as she linked hands with her girlfriend before kissing Buffy sweetly. "How was your class?"

Buffy looked to Willow with a frown before admitting, "I, uh, fell asleep during class."

"If you're tired, you should **tell me** ," scolded Tara gently. "We have all the time in the world for, you know…." The playful leer in Tara's voice was unmistakable to both Buffy and Willow.

Willow recognized that she was something of a third wheel, and declared shakily, "You know, I'm gonna do the thing. With Xander. And we're going to do it together."

Buffy and Tara shared a conspiratorial look as they let Willow's unintentional entendre pass by without comment. "You have a thing with Xander?" asked Tara.

Willow immediately began to stammer. "I-i-it's not a **thing** thing," she said. "We're just spending time together."

"Alone?" asked Buffy with a barely-disguised eagerness.

"W-w-well, s-sort of," admitted Willow as her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "B-but we're just going to talk, and watch some TV…..you know, friend stuff."

"Is he going to tell you about his job at the male strip club in Oxnard?" asked Buffy, going right for the jugular.

"I was thinking about… **WHAT?!** " Buffy shared a devilish grin with Tara as Willow's ever-active mind started to kick into overdrive. "Xander never said anything about being a stripper!"

"Well, now that you know," replied Tara, "you can ask him to demonstrate for you."

Willow turned pale as her imagination filled in the gaps. "Igottagobye!" she exclaimed nervously before taking off for parts unknown.

"Do you think Xander will be angry that we told Willow he had a job as a stripper?" asked Buffy as she looked in the direction that her best friend had retreated to.

"Maybe, but we did no such thing," declared Tara authoritatively. "We just said that he had a job there, not **as** one. There rest was entirely a figment of her imagination."

"Which you happily fed, you minx," replied Buffy with a playful edge. "I may need to spank you if you keep being naughty like this."

"How kinky," joked Tara, effectively silencing her now-stunned girlfriend.


	2. Chapter 2

Anya walked down the stairs into the living room of Giles' (well, actually, both of their) apartment, and immediately sneered at Spike, who was eating crackers and watching television. "Rupert, why is he still here?"

"As much I'd like to, I can't simply throw Spike out," answered Giles. "Besides, Xander hasn't called back yet."

"I'm not going to stay with that whelp," complained Spike between bites. "I'd rather be staked than listen to him and Red moan and complain about how alone they are all day."

"Your bargaining posture is rather poor in this instance, Spike," replied Giles with a faint air of superiority. "Besides, Anya and I would like to spend some time alone."

Spike was thoroughly unimpressed. "So I have to spend the weekend with **Xander** because you want to bump uglies with your bint? No thanks, mate."

"Is that all you see me as?" asked Anya. "An orgasm friend?"

As Giles fumbled for a proper response (while naturally polishing his glasses in a sign of embarrassment), the front door opened, and in came Xander, with Willow doggedly following him. "I'm your best friend! We're supposed to share everything!" she declared angrily.

"Look, it's not something I'm proud of!" replied Xander. "Besides, me being a **stripper** definitely falls within the bounds of things that should not be discussed after the Fluke."

Giles, Anya, and Spike were all suitably surprised and revolted by this new information. By some stroke of luck, Giles managed not to polish a hole into his glasses while Anya rolled her eyes and Spike eagerly leaned in to hear the argument.

"But you told Tara!" argued Willow. "You've known her for two and a half months!"

"We were on a date!" countered Xander. "It seemed like a good idea to tell her about it!"

"She's **gay**!"

"I didn't know that then!"

"And you told Buffy, too!"

"I only told her that I had a job washing dishes at the club, and that one of the dancers called in sick one night!" he answered truthfully. "Besides, I wanted to date **her** , too!"

"So, you're only telling people you want to date?" asked Willow with more than a bit of bitterness in her voice. "Did you tell Anya? Or how about Cordelia? Hey, I know! Let's wake Faith out of her coma so you can tell **her** all the things you're too good to share with your **best friend since preschool**!"

"That's not fair!"

"Yes it is!" shouted Willow angrily. "You keep hiding these things from me! Don't you understand how much it hurts when you keep secrets from me?"

"But it's alright to keep pushing me away?" asked Xander.

"You weren't interested!" answered Willow, her face turning red with rage. "What was I supposed to do, be a nun until you came to your senses? Which, I might add, worked out **so** well."

Spike, who was enjoying every second of this, looked to Giles and announced, "I changed my mind. I want to go to Xander's house."

Giles merely glared at Spike.

"For you, it did," declared Xander. "You got your boyfriend back by Christmas. Me? I lost mine forever and had to bribe her into not hating me, and lost my virginity to a psychopath who later tried to rape me and strangle me!"

"Well…OK," replied Willow, finally starting to cool down. "But don't think you're off the hook, mister."

Giles breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you two done fighting in my living room concerning things I never want to hear about again?"

Willow and Xander looked at each other, and after reaching a silent, unsteady truce, nodded.

"Might I ask why you decided to have this frankly disturbing conversation **here**?"

"Mom said you wanted me to swing by," answered Xander. "Willow just happened to come rushing after me immediately after the lovebirds decided to completely betray my trust."

Blushing, Willow admitted quietly, "Well, it wasn't immediately in the **strictest** sense of the word…."

The admission was utterly ignored when Spike loudly asked, "'The lovebirds'?" He only got louder when he finally put two and two together. "Wait, the Slayer has herself a **girlfriend** now? And it's Glinda? Oh, that's just rich! I think I'll just call up Angel and tell him the good news."

Four voices shouted as one: " **NO!** "

"Oh, come on," argued Spike facetiously, "it'll put a smile on his broody little face."

"No, it won't," replied Giles. Continuing the conversation with Xander, he said, "I had meant for you to come after sundown. I need you to take Spike for a few days."

"Why?" asked Xander indignantly. "And more importantly, why me?"

"Rupie needs a little alone time to shag his girlfriend," announced Spike, who was instantly pleased with how well his explanation offended everyone present.

"No, Spike, I'm not sending you off simply so I can 'shag' Anya."

"So you're saying that I'm not attractive enough to be your orgasm friend?" asked Anya.

"I said no such thing," answered Giles while desperately trying to keep his wits intact. "I was merely respecting your desire to have an evening alone where we do more than….." Thankfully for Willow and Xander's stomachs, Giles' British modesty prevented him from finishing the sentence.

For whatever reason, Anya found her boyfriend's response to be incredibly romantic. "Oh, Rupert!" she announced before flinging herself at him and kissing him deeply.

Willow and Xander were thoroughly squicked by this.

"And he thinks that blood in the Weetabix is disgusting," muttered Spike.

* * *

"But I don't wanna go to sleep!" shouted Buffy, in full pout mode despite being dressed for bed.

"You fell asleep in class," replied Tara, holding firm as she sat down at the edge of Buffy's bed, having just stripped down to a t-shirt and her underwear.

"It's not fair!" declared Buffy, who was literally hopping up and down in frustration as if she was a toddler. "I've done my homework and finished my patrol. I've earned my smoochies, darn it!"

Tara was having a hard time stifling her laughter, especially after the strangely G-rated choice of expletive. "Between your falling asleep in class and your behavior right now, I think I'm right."

"I told you that it was a Slayer dream," pleaded Buffy. "They happen whenever they need to, not when I want them to! Besides…I don't know how much time I have with you." Unlike her other arguments, Buffy's last statement seemed more honest. More real.

Frankly, it scared the Hell out of Tara.

"Sweetie?"

"I've been the Slayer for almost four years," answered Buffy. "I'm practically a senior citizen now. It's only a matter of time before I die again, and for good this time."

"Buffy, you're not going to die," declared Tara firmly. "You're going to live to be 100, and you and I will spend our retirement being crazy cat ladies and shouting at vampires to get off our lawn at night."

"Liar."

Pulling Buffy onto the bed with her, Tara said, "You've got about 71 years to admit that I'm right, you know."

"Ha ha, very funny," deadpanned Buffy. "Just remember this when you're all alone with your twenty cats."

"Buffy," scolded Tara, " **stop it**. I don't want to hear any more of this 'I'm going to die' stuff. You're going to live for a very long time, and so will I."

"How can you be so sure?"

"It was a prophecy in one of Giles' books," declared Tara facetiously.

"Oh?" answered Buffy as she embraced her girlfriend. "What else did it say?"

"It said that if we don't get a good night's sleep tonight, the Hellmouth will swallow you up for snoring through _Star Wars_ tomorrow."

"Now you're just making stuff up."

"Fine, then," replied Tara. "But when you get swallowed up by the Hellmouth tomorrow, don't blame me." Getting into Buffy's bed, she added, "Now, come on, and be a good girl."

Buffy pouted for a moment before admitting defeat and joining her girlfriend in the rather small bed. Tara, for her part, smiled sweetly as she turned off the light, saying nary a word.

"Oh, eat me," hissed the Slayer as she turned her back on the witch.

"Maybe tomorrow, Sweetie."

Buffy blushed mutely as Tara snuggled up to her.

* * *

"You don't have to sleep on the floor, Xander," said Willow for the umpteenth time as she sat on the edge of his bed clad in her pajamas. "I'm perfectly fine down there."

"Nonsense, Will," replied Xander adamantly as he fluffed his pillow while laying inside his sleeping bag. It was pretty clear that he found the situation pretty uncomfortable. "Sleepover rules still apply: you get the nice, comfy bed, and I get the hard floor."

"Oh, come on," declared Spike in an extremely annoyed voice from the chair he was tied to. "Just shag and be done with it already!"

"Xander and I are just friends, Spike," announced Willow with a slight stiffness in her voice. "Nothing more."

"What a load of bollocks," muttered Spike. "I've seen you two. You're even worse than Buffy and Angel. You hide it better, but you'll never really be friends."

"Spike, do you want to find yourself on the wrong side of a stake?" asked Xander. "'Cause it can be arranged."

"You don't have the wrinkles," sneered Spike. "You've got me tied up even though I can't bite you."

"One, I don't believe you," said Xander, "Two, you'd probably bite Will."

"I bet she actually tastes good."

Willow interpreted Spike's statement in a much more explicit way, and blushed with embarrassment. "There will be no biting, and **especially** no tasting from either of you! Not tonight, and not **ever**!"

"Oh, I bet you'd **love** for Xander to have a taste," replied Spike with a leer.

Willow looked at Xander, who was blushing as well, and the red in her cheeks deepened before she made a nervous sound. Now utterly flustered beyond belief, Willow shut off the light and dove under the covers.

* * *

Giles was at his table, surrounded by books and notes as he muttered, "'They need to take seven…..' Take seven what?"

"Rupert."

The ex-Watcher turned to face Anya, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, clad only in a sheer nightie. Her mood matched her attire, which did not go by unnoticed. "Yes, Anya?"

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier."

"Th-that's quite a-alright," answered Giles with his usual nervous fluster. "You had every right to be upset with me. I've taken you for granted, a-and acted like a total heel. I'm frankly surprised you haven't left me."

Anya sighed loudly, "You **do** care!"

"Of course I do," replied Giles warmly. "I'd be a bloody fool not to."

Anya rushed to Giles and kissed him like there was no tomorrow before all but dragging him upstairs.

* * *

All across Sunnydale, everyone, even the most virulent of night owls, fell asleep early that night. As a result, no one saw the silent ritual, or even knew of it, involving the box from Buffy's Slayer dream. As soon as the box was opened, a strange whispering noise permeated the town, and one by one, the people and not-people of Sunnydale each drew oddly visible breaths, and these breaths all went towards one place: the Sunnydale clock tower. Soon, all of the breaths were inside the box, which was then closed by a horrific, pale creature that Buffy also would have recognized from her dream. With its unnatural grin and bald head, this creature, dressed in a suit, this **Gentleman** , would have caused anyone awake to scream bloody murder.

If only they could.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** See the "T" rating? Well, with the next part, it's going to bump up a notch. Why? Well, someone gets a little naughty with someone else before that pesky plot gets in the way. The character responsible has been scolded, but we all know she's going to do it again (and again, and again). And truth be told, I don't think she'll be alone. The hormones, they are getting out of control.


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy woke with a start, and unthinkingly flailed about when she realized she was being held. Rational thought quickly took over, though, as she remembered her new normal: waking up in Tara's arms. Of course, Buffy being Buffy, she started to freak out over the possibility of having disturbed her girlfriend's slumber.

She needn't have worried. Tara was still peacefully (and beautifully, in Buffy's mind) asleep. All she did was to turn around in her sleep without a sound, which was enough to cancel Buffy Panic Mode. So, Buffy slipped back into bed, and took advantage of the opportunity to be the snuggler, as opposed to the snugglee.

Buffy instantly revived her plans to spend the rest of her life in bed with Tara.

Sure, Tara snuggles were beyond awesome. Waking up surrounded by warm, soft girlfriend, and feeling her heart beat while leaning against those firm, succulent…Anyways, it was pretty great, even if Buffy wasn't quickly becoming a breast gal.

 _Becoming?_ thought Buffy as she grabbed a handful. _I'm already there_.

All the thinking about sex with Tara reminded Buffy that it had been 14 hours and 38 minutes since their last time, and that was just a between-classes quickie.

 _God, I am such a_ ** _guy_** , thought Buffy before kissing Tara's neck deeply and roughly. It was not an act of love and compassion, but of need and pure, animal lust. Buffy let her desire take over as she tore off Tara's t-shirt and underwear, not noticing or even caring about her girlfriend's reaction until the witch convulsed orgasmically and rewarded the Slayer for her skill with her tongue.

Temporarily sated, Buffy looked up to Tara and saw her breathing heavily.

After recovering, Tara said with an equally satisfied look on her face, "Oh, Goddess, I need to hold out on you more often."

Tara's face paled. Her voice was gone.

Buffy, seeing the fear in her eyes, asked, "Tara?"

And there was no sound.

"Are we….?"

Tara replied by knocking on Buffy's night stand, which they both definitely heard.

"Does this mean having lesbian sex makes you go mute?" mouthed Buffy.

Tara laughed silently.

Offended, Buffy turned around and sat at the edge of the bed with her arms folded across her chest. She sat unmoving even as she felt Tara crawling towards her, and even after Tara started kissing her neck. After a good minute or so without getting a response, Tara grabbed Buffy's chin and turned the Slayer's head to face her. And gave Buffy an almost comically overexaggerated pleading look.

It worked, and Buffy wrapped up Tara in her arms and gave her a smoldering hot kiss.

"Goddess, you are such a **girl** ," mouthed Tara after the kiss ended.

Buffy blushed, and the mystery of their lost voices was ignored for a little while longer.

* * *

In Xander's basement, Xander was shouting soundlessly at Spike, and if not for Willow, he probably would be strangling the vampire right then, for all the good it would do. For his part, Spike was shouting back silently, albeit using far harsher language.

Having thoroughly reached her limit, Willow grabbed ahold of Xander and shook the Hell out of him. And in case that didn't work, Xander was assaulted with the harshest Resolve Face she had ever used on him.

Luckily (for him), Xander was immediately contrite, and Willow let go and took a step backward in response. However, this didn't mean that he was done accusing Spike of being responsible for their inability to speak, and so he looked at Spike skeptically.

Spike gave Xander a two-finger salute that neither he nor Willow needed any knowledge of British culture to recognize as being vulgar in nature. "Stop it, Spike," mouthed Willow, making her annoyance clear. Spike pouted, earning a mocking glare from Xander, which earned him an exasperated, scolding look from Willow.

Sufficiently shamed, Xander held his head down in shame as Willow got a change of clothes out from her bag and retreated to Xander's bathroom. Spike pointed and laughed at him soundlessly, only to be put to shame himself when Willow stuck her head out of the bathroom and gave him a withering glare.

* * *

Buffy and Tara walked down the streets of Sunnydale hand in hand, surprised to see a flurry of activity, even though most stores were totally closed. The lone exception, a liquor store, had a massive line just to get in.

A man in a suit was crying in the street beside his wrecked car, which had crashed into a fire hydrant (which was spewing a fountain of water).

A preacher was leading a prayer session near the magic shop (which made Tara roll her eyes), with a woman standing beside him with a sign that listed the Bible verse to follow along with. The session was eleven strong with the addition of someone the two women vaguely recognized from school.

Suffice to say, Buffy and Tara preferred their form of stress relief.

Lastly, there was a man selling dry erase boards with a marker and a string in order to wear them. for $10 apiece. And he was doing great business, too. Buffy made a motion to give the man the famous Slayer welcome, but Tara shook her head no.

* * *

Later, Buffy and Tara arrived at Giles' apartment, each wearing one on the dry erase boards from earlier. Their embarrassment was at least partly alleviated since Willow and Xander, who were watching a news bulletin on TV, had also apparently been suckered by the shyster. Rashly, they both leapt up and all but glomped Buffy.

Writing on her board, Tara presented Willow and Xander with a message, and a smirk: "No, I don't need a hug." The two dutifully hugged Tara just as hard, causing Tara to laugh silently.

Buffy, having received another hug from Giles while Tara was getting hers, silently asked the former Watcher if he had found anything yet, receiving only a shrug in return. While removing her board, Buffy glanced at his notes, and saw the ones related to her Slayer dream, and groaned. "Of course!" she mouthed.

Giles gave Buffy a questioning look, and was presented with his notepad from the previous night. To emphasize her point, Buffy pointed at the text reading THE GENTLEMEN. Giles merely shrugged again.

"The news said laryngitis," answered Xander via his board. (The correct spelling of "laryngitis" was under a crossed-out, misspelled "larengitis".)

Tara snorted silently with laughter, and Buffy rolled her eyes. Grabbing her board, Buffy wrote, "Keep researching. I should be in town tonight."

Giles, Anya, Willow, and Xander answered with questioning looks. Tara wrote, "Chaos. Ruin. Devastation."

"We're being attacked by Cobra Commander?" asked Xander on his board.

Everyone except Tara and Xander groaned.

* * *

That evening, Buffy passed the same crashed car she and Tara had seen earlier. The fire hydrant was still spewing water high into the air. There were also some kids nearby with an old-school ghetto blaster, which was playing rather loudly, but nothing too interesting besides. Noticing something ahead, Buffy started toward the commotion, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Riley Finn in the middle of it.

" **Riley**?" mouthed Buffy. "What's he doing here?"

Apparently, he was trying to stop a fistfight between two businessmen, right outside the bookstore. He was trying to be nice (Buffy was not shocked to see), but suddenly pushed back one of the men and got into his face before turning to the second man. This was a huge mistake, as the first man picked up a pipe with the intention of bashing Riley's skull in.

Fortunately, Buffy was close enough to intervene. Her action was swift and unthinking as she snapped his wrist like a twig; Buffy didn't even give the man a glance as she walked by him. Meanwhile, the man had fallen to his knees, screaming soundlessly as the pipe clattered away. After getting his attention, Buffy mouthed, "Riley, what are you doing here?"

Riley shrugged. "What about you?"

Pulling out her sword and striking a heroic pose, Buffy mouthed confidently, "I'm a superhero."

Riley laughed, earning him a glare from the Slayer. But before Buffy could pursue the discussion further, the sound of glass breaking caused both to return to an all-business attitude. With a shared nod, the two went in opposite directions. Buffy, however, paused for a moment, and looked back at the departing TA.

 _What is his deal?_


	4. Chapter 4

Much later, Buffy stumbled into her dorm room. She was utterly exhausted, and she wasn't alone: Tara was asleep on the bed, with books strewn around her, all opened. Taking care to not lose Tara's place in any of them, Buffy carefully placed them all on Willow's vacant bed before kissing the witch's forehead tenderly.

Like a fairy tale princess, Tara's eyes slowly opened after the kiss. And when she realized who had woken her up, Tara pointed to her lips.

Buffy straddled her girlfriend and dutifully kissed her full on the lips. At first a teasing, innocent peck, it quickly became deeper as that familiar, almost primal, desire swelled up inside her. Sleep could wait; Tara couldn't.

After coming up for air, Tara gazed at Buffy lustily as she took in deep breaths. She was also tired, but Tara wanted it, too. It wasn't about the sex… _Well, it wasn't_ ** _entirely_** _about the sex,_ she thought, but that was an undeniable part of what she and Buffy had. The connection they had was almost overpowering-Tara could feel herself changing, becoming different, and if she was being perfectly honest with herself, she liked it. **A lot**. Tara was becoming bolder, stronger, and just a little bit more impulsive. She had initially thought that this was just Buffy rubbing off on her, but now with their relationship having become an actual relationship, and a very intimate one at that, Tara knew that it was different, as if they were both tapping into a live current.

Tara's thoughts were interrupted with a firm poke to her chest by Buffy, who mouthed, "Hey!" with an annoyed expression on her face. "Less thinking, more smoochies!"

"But I was thinking about how much I love you," mouthed Tara in response. In order drive the point home, Tara pointed at her head, then herself, held her hand to her heart, and then pointed at Buffy.

Buffy said something, or made some sort of noise, but without the benefit of sound, it made absolutely no sense to Tara. All she knew was that she had a very happy Slayer on her hands. And a distracted one, which allowed Tara to turn the tables on Buffy and straddle her for a change.

It would have worked, too, if the bed they were on was queen-sized. Instead, the two women landed with a thud on the floor to the right of Buffy's bed. Tara was on top of Buffy now, though, so it wasn't a total loss.

" **OW!** " mouthed Buffy in what was clearly intended to be an annoyed shout.

"Oops," mouthed Tara sarcastically in response.

Buffy stuck out her tongue in response. (Tara was fairly certain that she was on the receiving end of a raspberry.) "Help me up?" mimed the Slayer with a questioning glance.

Tara shook her head no, and was richly rewarded with some hardcore Buffy pouting.

It was way too much fun teasing Buffy.

After a good minute or so of enjoying herself, Tara eased off and helped Buffy up….only to pounce again and pin her to the bed.

"Stop. **TEASING!** " mouthed Buffy. It looked more like a moan than a complaint to Tara, and her suspicion was confirmed when Buffy used her Slayer strength to grab her girlfriend's left hand and show her just how excited she was. This was a grave error on Buffy's part, and soon Tara had her moaning even more vigorously. (Tara was certain that if they had their voices, Buffy's would have been heard across the entire UC Sunnydale campus.) However, before Buffy got her much-requested release, Tara pulled her arm back and started licking her fingers while wearing the smuggest of grins.

Buffy, now beyond frustrated, mouthed out her desire to Tara in no uncertain terms.

"You kiss your Mom with that mouth?" mimed Tara, enjoying every last instant of her soundless reply.

" **NOW!** " pleaded Buffy.

Tara evaded the request by kissing Buffy long and hard before taking off her shirt and then her bra in quick succession. With Buffy now topless, Tara pushed her down flat on her back and was awed all over again by her girlfriend. Before Buffy, Tara had preferred girls who looked a bit more like herself.

Curvy.

Soft.

But now?

Simply put, Tara considered Buffy to be the physical embodiment of a goddess.

Tara barely knew where to start. Could it be those expressive, soulful green eyes? Or that unbelievably cute nose? How about her incredibly kissable lips and that winning smile that made Tara feel lightheaded every time she saw it directed at her? And then there was her neck, which constantly vexed Tara with its inability to keep a hickey for more than an hour or two because of Buffy's Slayer healing.

Unable to simply admire any longer, Tara dove for Buffy's neck, and again embarked on the futile quest to mark her lover. Buffy, already desperate for her release, was bucking wildly within moments.

Granted, this may have had something to do with how Tara was making use of her right hand as opposed to her mouth, but that was beside the point.

After leaving yet another sadly temporary mark on Buffy's neck, Tara turned her attentions to Buffy's arms. Despite being incredibly strong, her arms weren't overly muscular, to Tara's surprise. Sure, she wasn't expecting Hulk arms from the Slayer, but shouldn't Buffy have at least an exposed vein or something? But no, even her hands were smooth perfection.

Buffy shuddered and bit her lower lip as Tara lightly traced her fingers along those toned arms, knowing full well that she was taking her teasing to agonizing new heights.

 _For God's sake, just fuck me already!_

Tara froze for a moment as she swore she heard Buffy's voice. But to look at her, she was still moaning soundlessly.

Shaking it off as a figment of her imagination, Tara turned her attention to Buffy's chest. Obviously, preferring curvier girls meant that Tara was also in favor of someone a bit more…..prominent than her girlfriend. But Buffy, with her tiny and athletic frame, was exquisite just the way she was. And besides, Buffy was far more sensitive than most of the other girls she had been with. In fact, Buffy was too close for Tara to properly show her appreciation, so with a tiny sigh, she instead moved to Buffy's stomach, which was wonderfully fit and kissable, but there was a danger: Buffy had an incredibly ticklish belly button.

That's right, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a human Pillsbury Doughboy. Or girl. Or whatever.

But Tara knew what she was doing, and was able to avoid ruining the mood while she fumbled about with Buffy's pants and underwear (she wasn't perfect, after all, and Buffy had complicated matters by not wearing sweatpants). With all of that behind her, and Buffy now quite naked (and **extremely** aroused), Tara considered continuing her laborious worship of her girlfriend's body…..

 _Oh, screw this,_ thought the witch before skipping ahead, much to the delight of Buffy, who got exactly what she had been pleading for for the past five minutes.

* * *

Tara smiled happily as she climbed on top of Buffy once more while the Slayer caught her breath. "Was that worth the wait?"

Buffy could only smile weakly at Tara's mimed reply, and the almost wicked smirk on her face. The past couple of weeks had completely changed her expectations of what sex was supposed to feel like, but this…..Buffy could barely comprehend how any of what had just transpired was even possible. Finally, she managed to mouth some semblance of a reply: "How…how did you…..?"

"Magic," mouthed Tara slyly.

"I love magic," mouthed Buffy in return, before grabbing Tara's collar and pulling her down for a smoldering hot kiss. This, of course, left Tara completely preoccupied, and soon the witch was lying down face up with her head at the foot of the bed and straddled by her girlfriend. With a conspiratorial grin on her face, Buffy mouthed, "My turn."

Tara's last coherent thought of the night was a prayer of thanks to her goddess.

* * *

Eventually, the town of Sunnydale once again fell asleep. At close to 2 AM, the Gentlemen emerged from the clock tower, floating slightly above the ground and accompanied by their Footmen. In contrast to the prim and proper Gentlemen, the Footmen flailed about, their heads mostly covered with bandages and wearing strait jackets that were unrestrained. The Gentlemen split off in three groups, with two Gentlemen and two Footmen to a group.

Soon, they would strike.

* * *

Not everyone was asleep this evening, though in Anya's case, it was not by choice. While Giles slept peacefully, having fallen asleep after a rather eventful and pleasurable round of lovemaking, rest was evading the former Vengeance Demon. Anya knew why, too: she was increasingly haunted by dreams? visions? memories? of Rupert, broken and stressed-out, shattering her power center, and dooming her to life as a human. Anya had already made far too many compromises to her principles because of these blasted human emotions (emotions patterned after those of Cordelia Chase, no less) that had drawn her to **Xander** , and the thought that she may be falling in love with the man responsible for her present condition was horrifying.

But not quite as horrifying as the part of her that not only **didn't care** that the former Watcher might be the reason she was human, but was actually **happy**.

With that disturbing thought, Anya got out of bed, slipped on Giles' bathrobe, and headed downstairs. She started towards the kitchen (because that's where Rupert kept the **good** scotch, in surprising quantity), but stopped after hearing something outside. Going to the nearest window, Anya pulled back the curtain, and she glared at what looked like something…..floating? towards the apartment, when suddenly, **it** floated by.

Bald, pale, thin, and smiling unnaturally, the thing caused Anya to leap backwards in surprise. After catching her breath, Anya cursed herself for recoiling ( _Stupid emotions!_ ) as she did before heading back upstairs with a determined look on her face.

Sleep could wait; she and Rupert had work to do.

* * *

The other Gentlemen were more successful at avoiding attention, and two of them eventually reached Stevenson Hall on the UC Sunnydale campus-on the same floor as Buffy and Willow's dorm room. The two Gentlemen floated by each door, shaking their heads and waving off each door they passed by.

In her room, Buffy writhed in her sleep as the Gentlemen passed by. However, Tara instinctively tightened her embrace of the Slayer, which was enough to stop Buffy's squirming. After a contented mumble, Buffy fell back into a peaceful slumber, blissfully ignorant of the horror outside.

Soon, the Gentlemen found what they were looking for, and knocked three times on the door to one of the dorm rooms, rousing its occupant, who opened the door with a confused look on his face.

Confusion turned to terror as the boy saw his guests. But before he could do anything, the Footmen grabbed him and dragged the unsuspecting teen back onto his bed. There, the boy was restrained as he tried, fruitlessly, to scream for help. After closing the door to his room, the Gentlemen floated over to their victim, grinning sinisterly as one pulled a scalpel from his doctor's bag and handed it over gleefully to his partner.

The boy died screaming.

No one heard him.

* * *

Tara and Buffy began their day much as the previous one had ended: by making out. As opposed to the furious, passionate pace they usually set, this was slow, tender, and punctuated by numerous shared smiles.

It was yet another thing that made Buffy feel more content and grateful than she had in years.

The moment was shattered when Buffy heard footsteps outside. The number and nervous energy surrounding them tipped her off immediately: the Slayer was needed. With a nod, Buffy stood up and swiftly put on some clothes and headed for the door. She was joined by Tara, whose determined expression held a clear message: she would always be by Buffy's side. Buffy smiled warmly at her girlfriend as she squeezed Tara's hand in acknowledgement of her support, and her cheeks flushed red ever-so-slightly as she opened the door.

The hallway was more like a wake than a college dorm. Students were openly sobbing, comforting each other, and generally looking as if someone had died. Most conspicuous of all was the crowd of people surrounding one of the rooms. Like a moth to a flame, Buffy was drawn to the room, and brushed past the assembled, horrified crowd. The boy was on his bed, his face frozen with terror, and his heart…..missing.

A few moments later, Buffy exited the dead boy's room with a determined look on her face. Tara recognized it immediately, and knew what it meant: someone, or some **thing** , was going to pay, and dearly.

* * *

 **A/N:** Buffy and Tara have promised that this will be the last time they're naughty, but I don't believe them for an instant, and neither should you.


	5. Chapter 5

After the morning's gruesome events, the Scoobies headed to Giles' apartment, only to be immediately directed back to the UC Sunnydale campus and towards one of the lecture halls, which was easy enough to commandeer, what with the town practically shut down. So now, with the shades drawn, everyone was seated and waiting for Giles. Buffy and Tara were seated together front and center, holding hands (since the desks didn't allow for much more contact), and Willow seated at Buffy's left, ready to take notes. Xander sat down to her left, and shook his head with a smile. Willow returned the look with an offended one of her own as she clutched her notebook defensively. Meanwhile, to Tara's right, Anya was eagerly awaiting for Giles to start his presentation. She also had an opened bag of potato chips from which she was absently snacking on.

With everyone settled, Giles turned his attention to the overhead projector beside him and the series of transparencies he had prepared. It was pretty standard stuff, though things began to devolve with the third sheet, which read, WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Willow's arm shot up immediately, and she gestured towards her heart.

Xander completely misread the action and mouthed questioningly, "Boobies?"

Buffy's eyes grew wide with horror upon reading Xander's lips, and she quickly covered the appropriate part of Tara's body. (Tara, whose clothed breasts were now being groped in front of everyone, began blushing with embarrassment.)

Anya gave the Slayer a look that could have killed while Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, silently cursing himself for not bringing along his scotch. After regaining his composure, the former Watcher put up the next transparency, which read:

HEARTS. To emphasize the point, Giles had included three cartoon hearts on the slide.

While Willow beamed over being right, Buffy realized the grave error of her ways, and feeling colossally stupid, she let go of Tara's…..assets, and slunk deep into her seat.

The next three slides explained that it was the Gentlemen who were responsible for Sunnydale being mute, but then, Giles' slides took a rather gruesome turn. One showed one of Giles' cartoon Gentlemen cutting open a sleeping man, and had a bit of red ink to indicate blood. But the next slide, which showed the Gentleman holding up the severed (non-cartoon) heart had red ink **everywhere**.

Buffy, Tara, and Xander were taken aback. Willow began to look a bit queasy.

Anya, who was still munching on potato chips, smiled widely.

The next slide explained the situation: the Gentlemen needed seven hearts, and as far as the Scoobies knew, they had two, if not more. Cutting to the chase, Xander produced his whiteboard and wrote, "How do you kill them?"

With a snort (thankfully muted), Buffy mimed herself holding a stake and plunging it downwards repeatedly.

Everyone else's eyes grew wide with disbelief. Willow and Xander shared a surprised look as Xander mouthed, "I thought she was gay now?"

Willow punched Xander's shoulder as hard as she could (which was plenty hard).

Tara smirked at her girlfriend, and suddenly, Buffy realized yet again that she'd made a fool of herself. Blushing, she rifled through her purse and produced a stake and repeated the motion.

Willow, Xander, Giles, and Anya all breathed sighs of relief and mouthed "Ohhhhh," as the revised gesture, much to Buffy's consternation.

The next slide: IN THE TALES, NO SWORD CAN KILL THEM. And underneath, a still-smiling Gentleman with a bunch of swords stuck in him.

BUT THE PRINCESS SCREAMED ONCE AND THEY ALL DIED. The accompanying image being the aforementioned princess yelling her head off while the Gentlemen recoil in pain.

THEY CANNOT STAND THE HUMAN VOICE.

Buffy scribbled on her whiteboard. "That's not going to work." After giving everyone a moment to read the message, she added, "We tried last night."

Tara's blush and Buffy's satisfied grin was more than enough to give everyone else the idea.

Willow and Xander's faces grew pale while Anya thought for a moment at wrote on her whiteboard, "We did too," with a matching lascivious smile aimed at Giles, who started wiping his glasses nervously.

Following that awkward moment, Willow had a flash of realization, and started rifling through her backpack, producing a CD. In overdramatic fashion, she mimed a singer singing, followed by the Gentlemen covering their ears in pain and keeling over, dead (complete with tongue sticking out).

Buffy was not amused.

Scribbling furiously on her whiteboard, she wrote, "You told me you threw out Kathy's Cher CDs." Her scowl made it perfectly clear that the wrong answer would be dealt with harshly.

Willow answered by shaking her head "No" as fiercely as possible and showing Buffy the jewel cases. One had an image of a huge space station with a shuttle docking into it, and the other had an image of…..the Wicked Witch of the West trying to grab Dorothy's Ruby Slippers? Buffy was utterly confused by what she saw.

Tara, however, was thrilled. She knew both albums by heart, and their presence brought a wide smile to her face, until it dawned on her that Willow was suggesting the music could kill. With an angry look on her face, Tara wrote on her whiteboard, "You better not be saying that ELO is bad."

Ever the one to avoid a confrontation, Willow shook her head furiously in the negative, which successfully satisfied Tara, who beamed warmly at the redhead in return.

With a series of loud bangs against the side of the overhead projector, Giles reasserted command of the room. Suffice to say, he was not amused.

Undaunted, Tara pointed her whiteboard at Buffy's former Watcher, and repeated her serious facial expression.

Giles merely sighed before pointing sternly at the screen: ONLY A REAL HUMAN VOICE.

Tara mouthed a contrite, "Oh," as realization sunk in.

BUFFY WILL PATROL TONIGHT.

Accompanying the statement was an image of Buffy that she instantly rejected as less than flattering. However, her revulsion was swiftly ignored when Tara gently squeezed her hand. With a simple smile, the witch reminded the Slayer of her opinion: _I think you're beautiful no matter what._

Buffy blushed as she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend before stopping suddenly. "The spell!" she mouthed to Tara. "Tell Giles about the spell!"

Tara nodded nervously and raised her hand hesitantly. Giles, however, was done with his presentation, and was in the process of cleaning up (and therefore not paying attention). So, Buffy took matters into her own hands and practically ripped Tara out of her seat and dragged her to the middle-aged British man. After shouting futilely at Giles a couple of times, Buffy poked him on the shoulder a couple of times. The former Watcher was visibly startled before turning to face Buffy and Tara.

Tara nervously presented her notes and a book opened to a section titled "Spells of Speech and Silence". The work impressed Giles, and on his questioning glance, the blonde nodded shyly.

"When?" mouthed Giles.

"Now," answered Tara as Buffy smiled warmly and proudly.


	6. Chapter 6

Tara finished preparing for the spell as Willow went over Tara's notes. As far as the redhead was concerned, this was excellent work, enough in fact to inspire a flash of jealousy in Willow that instantly made her feel guilty. The meditation technique Tara had taught Willow earlier in the week came in handy to restore her fragile balance, because seriously, this was **impressive**.

With the preparations finished, Tara glanced at Willow and realized that she was having an attack of the green-eyed monster. Gritting her teeth, the blonde witch wished she could explain just how in awe she was of Willow's strength and ability. It was times like these when Tara remembered that she was still a bit of an outsider with the Scoobies ( _Buffy excepted, of course,_ thought Tara with a smirk as she took a moment to "admire", or rather, ogle, her girlfriend) and that she needed to work at strengthening her relationships with them.

Xander had been easy; they had a surprising amount of things in common, and had formed a fast bond (though certainly not the one Buffy had intended when she hastily set them up on a date). Mr. Giles had similarly accepted her without trouble, though she suspected that it was mostly because he felt sorry for her because Buffy was corrupting her. (Tara most certainly was not as upset as Mr. Giles about this state of affairs.) And Anya, despite being brutally blunt, was genuinely polite in their dealings, if a bit standoffish (though she seemed to be like that even to Mr. Giles).

But Willow, she was a tough nut to crack. On the one hand, she had been openly rooting for Tara to be Xander's girlfriend (and Tara **still** wished that she was wired that way), and that was **Xander**. Willow still considered him to be hers on some level (which was a privilege that Xander was absolutely convinced had been lost to him), and Buffy had told many stories of how jealous and resentful she could be whenever Xander was interested in someone who wasn't her.

Willow's territorial nature had kicked in, however, when it concerned Buffy and magic (and the intersection of same). Buffy had explained (while telling her about Faith) that Willow's actions weren't unheard of, but it only added to Tara's concerns for her fellow witch's wellbeing. What made it worse, though, was that Willow was such a naturally optimistic person. There was much to love about her, but Buffy was probably right when she said that Willow was "being tempted by the Dark Side of the Force". (Buffy was laying the _Star Wars_ references thick lately, teasing that Tara would get it as soon as she saw the movies, which was nowhere near as funny as she seemed to think it was.)

Tara's reverie was interrupted when Willow tapped her shoulder, indicating that she was ready to begin. The redhead smiled at Tara with the warmth that she was known for, which did much to wash away Tara's concerns. This was important, because the spell hinged even more on the inner calm of the people casting it than any she had ever attempted before.

The reason, of course, was obvious: without the power of speech, every other element had to be exactly correct for it to work. That meant measuring out the ingredients with a precision that Tara, who had learned magic in a fashion similar to cooking (which is to say, as less of a science and more of an art) had a real difficulty grasping. And, of course, now that she had gone through the struggle, Tara realized that Willow, with her hard science background, could have nailed this part of the spell. So, she simply shrugged it off and returned Willow's smile with one of her own as she held out her hands.

Willow joined hands with Tara, signaling the start of the spell. It was based on a series of exchanges: first was touch, then vision, smell, taste, and lastly, speech.

Touch was signified by a parchment with an incantation written on it. Tara grabbed it with one hand and placed it in hers and Willow's hands. They lowered it into an urn sitting on the floor between them.

Vision was represented by fire, and Willow grabbed a torch, and held it with Tara as they lowered the flame into the urn, setting the parchment ablaze.

For smell, the spell called for lavender. Not exactly a shocking choice, given its properties and pleasant smell (Tara had long used it as a perfume, though she had begun adding jasmine to **extremely** positive results), but as much as non-magic users would like to believe, good magic was rarely about surprises. So, into the fire went the lavender, which, Tara quickly noticed, caused Buffy's eyes to glaze over as the scent filled the room.

Taste was represented by strawberries, in part to balance out the spell. Since the lavender was so closely related to herself, Tara needed something to associate with Willow. And with her red hair, aura, and personality, strawberries were the closest match. After dropping them into the fire, the strawberries began to sizzle and melt into a soupy substance.

And lastly was speech. The catalyst for the spell. In this case, it was mandrake root. Besides being a common catalyst in spell, the legendary mandrake root left forth a deadly scream when pulled from the ground. Willow and Tara added the root to the viscous, smoldering mixture below, and started to channel their energy into the potion...

Only to be blown back by a huge rush of energy and a deafening scream!

After regaining their composure, Willow and Tara inched back to where they had performed the spell, finding only a black mark on the floor (which was probably never going to come out) and the shattered remains of the urn they had used. Buffy likewise inched towards the permanently scarred floor, and asked, "Did it work?"

There was no sound. The spell had failed.

Tara sighed as she picked up the chunks of ceramic. She wanted to help, damn it. Instead, she had just wasted everyone's time, and worst of all, night had fallen, meaning that she had only managed to endanger the entire Scooby Gang. Tara's frustration was evident as she threw the urn into the trash with just enough force to come across as aggressive. Buffy instantly went to her girlfriend and hugged her. Tara only managed a sad smile in return.

Willow, Xander, and Giles tried their hand at cheering up Tara, but she was too despondent over her failure. Buffy, noticing how awkward it was making the blonde, changed the subject by writing on her whiteboard, "You guys should go home."

The others nodded, and paired off: Giles with Anya, and Willow with Xander. To Tara, Buffy mouthed, "Go with Willow and Xander."

Tara shook her head with a fiercely determined expression on her face before grasping Buffy's hand tightly. The message was clear: _I'm going with you._

Buffy sighed as she gave up the fight under the pressure of Tara's version of Resolve Face. "OK," she mouthed in return. (Willow and Xander shared a smile as Buffy gave in, recognizing the familiar back and forth from their own friendship.) With a nod, Buffy left with Tara to change and arm up, leaving the other four Scoobies to go their separate ways.

* * *

 **A/N:** Developing the spell took a long time to figure out. Not so much the shape and mechanics of the spell as much as the elements (I'm sure you can guess what the biggest reach was). Even the mandrake root took **way** too long to figure out, and I've been sorted at Pottermore! I promise, though, that future chapters will come out a bit more regularly.


	7. Chapter 7

Willow and Xander walked across campus nervously, glancing around constantly as they kept a look out for the Gentlemen. Luckily, Xander's house wasn't too horribly far from the UC Sunnydale campus, but neither one of them was armed, making them especially vulnerable (never minding the whole "no weapon forged" business).

The Gentlemen certainly agreed with this assessment, as two of them were trailing Willow and Xander. They were about ten yards away, and closing fast.

After a few moments, Willow looked backwards…..and recoiled with horror as she saw them. Her second reaction was to shake Xander violently, which resulted in an even more panicked reaction from him upon seeing the Gentlemen.

Willow was the first to calm down enough to think (somewhat) rationally, and after grabbing Xander to prevent him from totally losing it, she grabbed his arm and started running towards Stevenson Hall, which required a lengthy end run around the two Gentlemen. By the time they were running in the correct direction, Willow and Xander were also being chased by a pair of Footmen.

* * *

For Buffy and Tara, patrol had been utterly uneventful. No one was out tonight, and with good reason. They were both getting bored (and Tara had quickly learned that bored Buffy is inevitably horny Buffy, which was wholly inappropriate tonight), but eventually there was reprieve: one of **them** was in the distance.

A Gentleman.

Buffy began to steel herself for battle, but then she and Tara hit the ground with heavy THUDs.

Two of the Footmen had found them.

* * *

Willow and Xander were in full-on panic mode by the time they made it to Stevenson Hall's stairwell. This was one of those times where they were both extremely happy that Willow and Buffy's room was only on the second floor, as it was starting to look very much like the two original Scoobies were doomed. Luckily, Willow had enough magic left to give the two Footmen a good shove to the ground as they started to climb the stairs, because it was the only reason they had any distance on their pursuers as they turned the corner down the hallway to Willow's room, and safety.

* * *

Tara was still struggling on the ground with her Footman while Buffy was brutalizing hers with typical skill and efficiency. The witch got a break, however, as she managed to free her hands enough to perform a spell of repellence that threw her attacker backwards, right as Buffy dispatched her Footman by decapitating the creature with a mighty swing of her sword. The other creature clearly saw Buffy's killing blow, as it immediately turned tail for home. With a swift, purposeful glance, the Slayer and the witch began their pursuit of the frightened Footman.

* * *

Panic set in as Willow started searching furiously through her pockets and backpack for the keys to her room. They weren't there! Xander started bouncing around nervously and shouting invectives aimed squarely at Spike: as far as Xander was concerned, this was the vampire's fault, and proof that he should have been staked. Willow shot down the suggestion with a scolding glare before the realization hit her: she had left the keys at Xander's house because she still expected to stay there tonight! It took all of Willow's energy to not join Xander in panicking as she backed away from the locked door and turned towards her oldest friend. Instead, she merely glanced at him shakily before looking to one of the other doors.

Xander understood perfectly, and started banging on the door. Willow went to another door, and started banging as well, mouthing a silent prayer that Sophie (whose door she was at) was home, alive, awake, and brave enough to help.

Willow was relieved when the door started to open, but jumped with a start when she saw yet another Gentleman at the door.

In its hand was Sophie's heart.

The redhead turned and started to run…only to crash right into Xander, who had started to run himself.

The Gentlemen that had chased them into Stevenson Hall had arrived.

Both Scoobies rushed to their feet as fast as they could, but Xander stumbled on the way up, as his left leg was unable to support his weight. Wrapping his arm around Willow's shoulders, Xander leaned against her for support as they both looked for a way out.

Things looked even more dire with the arrival of the Footmen, but they made a severe tactical error: they dove for Xander, and Xander alone.

With a powerful yank, Willow was able to pull Xander out of the way and make a successful break for it. However, there was no time to spare, and the two raced for the stairwell, this time descending as their pursuers drew ever nearer.

* * *

The Footman reached a rickety old clock tower with Buffy right on its tail, and Tara not too far behind, crossbow ready. The creature scrambled through the door, passing by the adjacent boarded-up window….

….only to be tackled to the ground as Buffy dove through the window with a loud CRASH!

Buffy knocked away the creature with a mighty kick as Tara shot another with her crossbow, killing it instantly. Instinctively, Buffy unsheathed her sword as both she and Tara whirled around to face…

…. **Riley Finn**?


	8. Chapter 8

It was hard to tell who was more dumbfounded: Buffy and Tara at seeing Riley dressed up as one of the ubiquitous "army guys", or Riley at seeing the two women armed to the teeth.

The three Footmen inside the clock tower were completely unconcerned with this standoff, however, and they simply attacked. Tara, with her unloaded weapon (as well as being the physically weakest of the three) was tackled easily by her assailant. In a panic, Buffy belted her Footman with a mighty roundhouse kick, giving her enough space to yank Tara's by the collar and stand him up before decapitating the disoriented creature with a swing of her sword.

Tara, whose face and shirt were now splattered with a generous amount of blood, as well as having a bloody, severed head resting on her shoes-her **brand new** shoes-was less than amused. But Buffy, as always, was able to melt the witch's heart with an apologetic look and a sad glance at the surely ruined pair of shoes.

Buffy cursed herself silently-Tara looked **good** in those shoes. (It didn't occur to the Slayer that she thought Tara looked good in **everything** , and in nothing at all even more.) On the bright side, it did mean that her girlfriend had just passed the final Scooby initiation: losing an item of clothing on account of demon gack, so she couldn't help but smile slightly.

Riley, meanwhile, had also managed to get some space between himself and his Footman, and shot at it with his gun, with some sort of lightning shocking the beast.

Tara was instantly reminded of her comment about how the army guys were like something out of the most boring episode of _G.I. Joe_ ever (which felt like she had said it during a previous lifetime and not months ago).

It was Riley's turn to gawk, however, because when Buffy turned her attention back to the third Footman and punched it in the gut, sending her foe flying halfway across the room. Outside of video games, he had never seen anyone do something like that before-and Buffy was **miles** away from looking like Paul Phoenix. The Footman managed to get up, however, and as it stumbled upstairs, Buffy and Tara went right after it.

* * *

Willow and Xander were nearly out of breath as they reached the basement laundry room of Stevenson Hall. With far more force than was necessary, they slammed the door shut and turned the lock just as the Footmen started banging against it.

There was no way that the door was going to hold.

Luckily, there was a vending machine nearby, and both Scoobies rushed (or, in Xander's case, limped) over to it and started pushing. But with Xander's knee twisted, it was of no use. With no other option, Willow sat down on the floor and tried use magic to move the heavy appliance. And while it wobbled a bit, there was no real movement. As Xander hobbled over and sat down in front of her, Willow mouthed pessimistically, "It's too big."

Xander couldn't help himself, even with the door starting to give way, and answered, "Size matters not. Look at-"

Willow glared at Xander icily. This was **not** the time for the Movie Quote Game.

Taking her hand in his, Xander replied with solemn honesty. "You got this, Will."

There was no arguing this point with Xander, and Willow knew it. So, after taking a deep breath, she tried again.

The vending machine moved forward a little bit, then stopped, leaving Willow gasping for air, as the Footmen continued to bang furiously at the door.

They had minutes to live. Seconds if they were lucky.

To say that they were both worried was a gross understatement. They knew that this day was eventually going to come, but not so soon. Not like this.

As the two best friends prepared themselves for the end and shared their final, wordless goodbyes, they tried not to cry. They had chosen this life. Besides, it was just like old times: Willow and Xander, alone against the world.

The door started to rattle against its moorings, and Willow and Xander glanced at it quickly, before returning to looking at one another, but this time with sad smiles as they recalled their lives together.

And then, rashly, Xander kissed Willow, deeply and roughly.

Willow was utterly shocked, her eyes wide open as she saw the vending machine as it flew across the room, covering the door to the laundry room just in time. Regaining her senses, the witch pushed Xander off her angrily, and seethed as he realized that they weren't going to die after all.

With those puppy dog brown eyes of his, Xander begged for forgiveness as Willow caught her breath. He knew this was a Bad Thing, as he had agreed (albeit grudgingly) to her terms after the Fluke, and he had flagrantly violated those terms. And after the pleading came the joking. "Exemption for Impending Death Situations?"

Willow's expression was totally unreadable. She didn't need to hear the words to recognize them. Those fateful five words that had nearly cost her Oz.

The debate was tabled when Willow dove for Xander and kissed him back, knocking him over in the process as it grew ever more passionate.

* * *

With typically effortless grace, Buffy climbed past a pendulum and up into the clock tower before turning around and lifting up a very grateful Tara with ease. Their eyes were instantly drawn right, to an unholy shrine, with seven jars-five of them filled with a human heart.

Without warning, the two blondes were tackled by Footmen: four for Buffy, and two for Tara. There was no escaping this time, and they were wrestled to the ground with embarrassing ease. The Gentlemen approached with ever-present glee, with the one in front-the tallest of the horrible lot-brandishing a scalpel. This one wasn't stupid: he went for Buffy first, leaning down ever closer when…

WHAM!

The lead Gentleman's nearest companion was knocked back by a large electrical blast.

It was Riley Finn.

He fired again, this time hitting a Footman, which gave Buffy the leverage she needed to break free and start kicking ass. The first order of business was freeing Tara who, without her crossbow, resorted to some good old magic, getting a couple of their foes to back off with a burst of fire, but still the Footmen had the Slayer and the witch backed up far away from the Gentlemen's shrine. With a glance towards Riley, Buffy saw as he discarded his apparently spent weapon and started wailing on the Footmen with his bare hands.

Well, maybe not wailing, but he was doing well for a civilian.

Behind him, however, was something Buffy instantly recognized: a plain looking box, and it was exactly like the one the little girl had in her Slayer dream. Instantly, Buffy knew what needed to be done. She waved her arms wildly in an effort to get Riley's attention, which was successful, as he brought the butt of his rifle down powerfully...

...smashing a harmless jar of incense into a million pieces.

Buffy resisted the urge to facepalm (a truly mighty achievement) as Tara bit her lip in an effort to keep from laughing. Undaunted, the Slayer pointed again, mouthing, "The box!" while cursing him out mentally.

With a soldierlike efficiency, Riley turned….

…right as Buffy was stabbed in her arms by a Footman. Tara shouted in panic: she had never seen her girlfriend injured this badly before. She gave the Footman nearest to Buffy a magical shove…..

…..as Riley finally smashed the box. He stopped dead in his tracks as he felt something come over him.

The same thing happened to Buffy and Tara, and the Gentlemen recoiled in terror as the Slayer staggered to a fully standing position and took a huge breath before screaming at the top of her lungs!

The Footmen all dropped to the ground, spasming with pain the whole way down, and the Gentlemen tried covering their ears until they went stiff just before their heads exploded, spraying chunky bits of demon blood, brains, and bone everywhere.

Everywhere meaning all over a now intensely disgusted Tara.

Physically and emotionally drained from the battle, Buffy and Riley looked at the dead creatures lying on the floor before turning their attention to the muck-encrusted witch.

"This isn't going to wash out, is it?"


	9. Chapter 9

The sun was shining, children were playing gleefully, people were happily going about their business…but none of this mattered to Willow as she made the walk over to Xander's house. He had left in a rush after Buffy and Tara had discovered them in the laundry room, huddled together and sleeping on the floor, under wildly awkward circumstances (the least of which because-oh yeah-Xander had **kissed her** for **no** good reason whatsoever!). Rather than attract even more attention to herself (as Buffy and Tara had spent the next hour trying to find out if she and Xander were a couple now-something that will **never** happen, not **ever** ), Willow had gone with them to sleep in her own bed.

So now, it was time to lay down the law. Willow knocked on the door furiously and folded her arms as she waited for him to answer. She was about to really start wailing on the door when Xander finally answered. "Will," he replied nervously. Willow simply blew past him before standing in the center of his room, still rather obviously upset. "What's up?"

"I'm getting my stuff," she answered tersely. "And I'm here to tell you that what happened last night is **never** happening again."

Xander winced, more at Willow's harsh gaze than at what she said. "You're right. It was a mistake, and I'm sorry."

"Well…good. As far as anyone else is concerned, it never happened, and when Oz gets back-and he will-this whole business of Fluking-" Willow stopped with a start as she bumped into Xander. She had been so wrapped up in shooting him down that she hadn't paid attention to where her legs had taken her. And now, he was way too close. So close that she realized why Xander had taken so long to answer the door: he had been in the shower. His hair was still wet and his shirt-a leftover of his days on Sunnydale High's swim team-was damp and clung to his chest in all the right-

 _Wrong!_

-ways. Xander was also freshly-shaved, and he smelled pleasantly of soap and shampoo and aftershave. The combination was intoxicating, leaving Willow stammering.

"Will?" asked Xander, worry and confusion written all over his face. "Is everything al-MMMPH!"

Willow silenced Xander in mid-sentence…..by kissing him.

 **Again**.

* * *

Tara was sitting down on the edge of Willow's bed, hunched over and scrubbing her shoes furiously as Buffy walked in, fresh from her second shower after disposing of The Gentlemen. (The first, which had happened to have also been Tara's first of three such showers, had been a little…distracted.) While the future viability of her outfit from last night was in the hands of the Stevenson Hall washing machines (which had been the sight of a rather…..interesting scene with Willow and Xander when she and Buffy had gone down there after finishing their shared shower) and most of a bottle of Shout, Tara controlled the fate of these shoes.

With a brief glance of recognition as Buffy closed the door, Tara turned her attention back to her shoes. Truth be told, she had managed to get virtually all of the blood and nastiness off the shoes-enough to where most people would never know that they had ever been soiled.

But they needed to be **perfect**.

It was easy to say that she was going overboard with the shoes because Buffy had bought them for her and because Buffy liked how she looked in them, but the reality was that Tara was so determined to save these shoes because **she** liked how she looked in them, and because they reminded her of how happy she was with Buffy. In her first semester at UC Sunnydale, Tara had found friendship, love, and family, and with it, confidence in herself and a place in the world.

And that place apparently included having her boobs stared at by her girlfriend.

Tara glanced over at Buffy, who was thoroughly entranced by the view. Ironically, Buffy had fought hard for this shirt during their post-Thanksgiving shopping spree. Upon seeing the low-cut, light blue top, Buffy had said, "You'll make all the girls drool in this top, Tara!"

And, hey, she was **right**.

"Enjoying the view?" asked Tara as a knowing smile formed on her face.

"What? Oh!…..Sorry." Buffy started blushing as she sat up straight and wiped up the drool on her chin.

Tara couldn't help but smile greatly at the sight. Buffy was so sexy when she got flustered like this.

The door knocked, and Buffy sighed with relief as she was saved from further embarrassment. "Come in!"

It was Riley. With an unsteady awkwardness, he closed the door, and grabbed the chair at Buffy's desk, sitting down in front of the two women as he said, "We need to talk."

Buffy and Tara nodded as the room fell silent for what seemed like a month.

Finally, it was Buffy who broke the silence. "Well, somebody should speak before one of us graduates."

Riley stood up and started pacing. "What are you?"

Tara merely raised an eyebrow at the question, but Buffy was far less forgiving. With a barely contained snarl, she answered, "Capricorn, on the cusp of Aquarius."

Helpfully, Tara added, "Libra."

With a heavy sigh, Riley apologized. "Sorry. Came out a little blunter than I intended. It's just….You're amazing. Your speed, your strength-"

The gushing was threatening to make Buffy puke. Nipping it in the bud, she added, "Also passionate, artistic, inquisitive. And gay. Very, very gay."

Tara purred rather loudly as she considered just how gay Buffy was, before realizing that she was drawing two pairs of staring eyes. "Sorry."

Nevertheless, Riley continued with the gushing. "And you, Tara. It was like you had mutant powers with the fire and the telekinesis-"

"It's magic," explained the witch as she demonstrated by producing a small flame in the palm of her hand. "See?"

Riley was utterly flabbergasted. "How did you…..?"

"They really don't teach you much in the Army, do they?" asked Buffy incredulously. "Tara's a witch. And I'm the Slayer."

"The **what**?" asked Riley.

"Slay-er," continued Buffy, somewhat condescendingly. "Chosen one? She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries?"

Riley just shrugged lamely.

"You're kidding," answered Buffy. "You're part of some super-secret military force that's been bagging and tagging Sunnyvale's nightlife for months, and you've never heard of the Slayer?"

"How do you know-?"

"I saw some of you guys capturing a vampire a couple of months ago," admitted Tara.

"And then we ran into a bunch of your buddies on Halloween," added Buffy tersely. "So, now would be a good time to tell us who you really are, Riley Finn, if that really is your name."

"It **is** my name," argued Riley calmly, "and you know who I am. I'm a TA for Professor Walsh, originally from Iowa. It's just that my night job is a secret….or supposed to be, at any rate."

Buffy could certainly appreciate that, and her expression softened considerably. "Keeping secrets in Sunnydale? Not as easy as you'd think."

"I hope I can trust you two to keep this a secret, at least?" asked Riley hopefully.

"Scoobies don't snitch," replied Tara.

"Scoobies?"

"It's what me and my friends call ourselves," answered Buffy. Responding to Riley's skeptical glare, she added, "It's a long story."

"So, let me get this right," replied Riley, "You and your 'Scooby Gang' fight the HSTs in Sunnydale?"

"'HSTs'?" asked Buffy.

"Hostile Sub-Terrestrials," explained Riley.

Buffy shared an amused glance with Tara, who whispered, "Worst episode of _G.I. Joe_ **ever** ," before trying-and failing-to stifle her laughter.

"Let me guess," continued Buffy, bravely keeping a straight face, "You guys also do experiments on these 'HSTs', which, among other things, turn some into harmless bunnies."

Riley blanched. _Jackpot_.

He recovered quick enough, firing back with a question of his own. "I'm a walking bruise today, but you….you don't have a scratch on you. How?"

"Not looking hard enough."

"I'm looking pretty hard," answered Riley, earning a look from Tara, who had turned her attention back to her shoes.

Buffy, who had more scars from being the Slayer, begged to differ. "Not hard e-"

With a loud SKREEEEEECCCCHHH!, Amy made her presence known, diverting the attention of all three (current) humans in the room.

".…nough….?"

Suddenly, a low rumble built up, and then the room started to shake, knocking a few items (some breakable, though most, like Loo-Kee and Mr. Gordo, weren't) to the floor. Riley, ever the hero, grabbed Buffy and Tara and pulled them towards the frame of the room's door (which he helpfully opened). And finally…it stopped. Tara breathed a sigh of relief, while Buffy was now tenser than ever. Riley, however, was completely excited.

"Wow. That was some ride." Upon realizing that he was the only one excited, Riley immediately apologized. "Sorry. I'm a little excited. It's my first earthquake."

Buffy, having drifted towards her window, looked outside as people recovered from the shock and car alarms blared loudly. As old-and painful-memories washed over her, she murmured, "It isn't mine."


End file.
